Page 15 of The Perfect Mistake

Everything seems to shift once Alec arrives home.

It’s like the household had held its breath in anticipation, and all of it whooshes out when the front door opens. Willa leaves the book she’d been coloring in and rushes to the entryway. Sam follows at a more leisurely pace, but he makes sure to grab the ship he’d been building to show his father.

I linger in the hallway behind them.

Alec is standing by the console table, undoing his cufflinks and dropping them into a small dish. He looks impossibly tall next to both of his children.

They’re talking over one another.

“Daddy, look, I made a ship. The big one.”

“We had gymnastics today, and I was second best in class.”

Alec ruffles Sam’s hair and smiles at Willa. “That’s great, honey.”

“Daddy!”

“Yes, that’s a very cool ship. Is it like the one we saw in the harbor a few weeks ago?” He asks and shrugs out of his suit jacket. Something about the scene feels far too domestic for my eyes. I’m not meant to see Alec Connovan like this. No one is, except his closest circle. And I’m certainly not in it.

But I can’t look away, either.

The sternness I’ve always seen on his features is still there, but it’s lessened. I don’t know if this is his mask… or if it’s the truth.

He listens to his kids speak with a focused expression and starts to roll up the sleeves of his light-blue shirt. Inch after inch, his large hands working in turn on folding up the fabric.

It’s hard not to imagine those hands… No. I can handle this attraction. So what if he’s tall, broad-shouldered, and handsome? It doesn’t matter that his age makes him distinguished or that his stern calm radiates something I’ve been craving for longer than I can admit.

I’ve danced until my feet bled. This kind of discomfort should be nothing at all.

Alec glances around the room like he’s looking for something. His gaze halts when it lands on me.

He pauses mid-sleeve roll.

“Isabel,” he says. His eyes rake over my body in the quickest of flashes, and I resist the urge to cross my arms over my chest. Maybe my jeans and sweater aren’t appropriate nanny-wear for the Connovan household? But there had been no mention of a uniform in the brief.

“Hey,” I say.

His expression grows tense. “Has everything gone all right?”

“Yes, absolutely. Without a hitch.”

Alec nods once and looks back down at his kids. He gestures toward the dinner table. “I want you two to have a seat. Katja is almost done with dinner.”

Willa dances backward to the table. Her demeanor has done a complete one-eighty in the five minutes Alec’s been home. “Okay.”

“I’ll be there soon,” he says and crosses the space toward me. Over his shoulder I see Willa shooting me a venomous look.

His voice lowers. “Hey.”

“Hi,” I murmur.

“I’m going to eat with the kids,” he says. “You’re free for the rest of the night, but I’d like to speak with you. Do you mind waiting?”

“No, not at all.”

“Good,” he says. This close and this undone, I catch the scent of his cologne. “Have you seen your rooms?”

“Not yet,” I say. There hadn’t been time earlier between the quick introduction to Katja and needing to head to St. Regis for pickup.

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